It Had to Be You

twenty four

IT was a little after eight thirty and I was already on my third cup of coffee.

Alex had dropped me off safe and sound a little after one, but after I rid myself of my make-up and clothes, my mind replayed my interaction with West on a continuous loop.

I had known he wasn't as into me as I was to him, but that didn't stop the pain in my chest when those words slipped through his lips. He didn't like PDA, only settling for a simple hand-holding when we were in school or out on the town.

When I told him I loved him, he had said it back.

But he only said it to hold up his end, to see if saying those three words would change his feelings toward me.

And they didn't.

In a rash decision, I had given him one of the most important things in my life, something that I'll never be able to get back. Any sane person wouldn't let it go that far, they would stop things before there was no turning back.

But he didn't.

And when I woke the next morning, naked and full of love for what we had just done, I found West fully dressed with my clothes in his hands. I remember sitting up, dragging the blanket with me as I asked why he left bed.

And then he broke up with me.

Turns out, West was a better actor than I thought.

"If I wasn't so hungover right now, I'd go over there and give him a piece of my mind." Caroline grumbled from beside me.

I managed to give her a vague rundown of my conversation with West on the car ride here. Alex was racking up his good deeds by driving the two of us to the theatre this morning. I told him I could call us a cab, but he was adamant on having something to hold over Caroline at any moment's notice.

"That's low." She continued to mumble. "Boys are dumb. Complete and utter idiots they are, it's a wonder they live as long as they do."

I knew her thoughts had shifted off West but that was a conversation for later, when the hangover has passed, and she didn't glare at everything that moved.

It was time to run through the show, with tech week being a week away, we needed all the rehearsal time we could get. West met me at the top of the stairs, his blue eyes pleading me to look at him.

"Norah, can we talk?"

"No." I brushed past him.

He grabbed onto my elbow, retracting it almost immediately as he grabbed it. "Come on, we don't need things to be even more awkward than they already are."

"I can be professional." I told him with a blank face, hiding any emotion. "And if you know what's best for you, you will be too."

Thankful would be an understatement at how I felt once Schneider started the show. I could leave Norah Webster behind, step out of her skin and fall into the one of Mitchie Torres, where her life at this point is far less complicated than mine.

Her problems could be fixed by simply telling the truth whereas that's where all my problems begin.

"Tess." I stood from my seat, walking to face Kylie. She towered over me, her heels putting a good five inches between us, and I put on my best face. "Stop talking to me like that. Stop talking to everyone like that. I may be the cook's daughter and my father may not be rich, but I'm a much better person than someone who has to put others down just to make herself better. And I'll take that any day."

"If it's not obvious, you're so out of the group." Kylie stalked away, the two Olivia's playing Ella and Peggy followed suit, disappearing into the wings.